Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression frequently co-occur in adolescents following trauma, but the symptom-level mechanisms underlying this comorbidity remain unclear. The arousal symptoms of PTSD, including sleep problems and other symptoms, are a potential bridging symptom group. This study aimed to investigate the dynamic bridge symptoms linking PTSD and depression among adolescents exposed to a natural disaster, and to examine how these connections evolve over time.Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted with 1,444 adolescents affected by the Zhouqu debris flow. Participants were assessed at 3, 15, and 27 months post-disaster. The University of California at Los Angeles Posttraumatic Stress Reaction Index for Children, revision 1 and the Child Depression Inventory were used to assess PTSD and depression symptoms, respectively. Two cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) models were used to estimate temporal symptom associations and to identify bridge symptoms based on bridge expected influence (BEI).Results: Symptoms in the arousal and reactivity cluster (e.g. sleep disturbance, startle response, concentration problems) exhibited high and stable BEI across two years. However, specific bridge symptoms shifted across phases: startle and irritability were more influential between 3 and 15 months, while concentration problems and anhedonia became more prominent between 15 and 27 months. Network comparison revealed limited structural overlap across time, highlighting stage-specific changes in comorbidity patterns.Conclusions: These findings support a dual-phase mechanism of comorbidity between PTSD and depression. Arousal-related symptoms primarily drive cross-disorder associations in the early stage (3-15 months). In the later stage (15-27 months), depressive symptoms, especially anhedonia, become central, with attentional problems from hyperarousal also contributing. Tailored interventions targeting distinct symptom profiles at different recovery stages (hyperarousal in 3-15 month and anhedonia in 15-27 months) may enhance the effectiveness of post-disaster mental health care.

Bullying victimization is associated with depressive, anxiety, and somatic symptoms in adolescence, but most longitudinal studies have examined these symptoms at the domain level and in general adolescent samples. Little is known about how these symptoms unfold over time among bullying-victimized adolescents, or which specific symptoms drive cross-domain propagation. This study examined longitudinal associations among depressive, anxiety, and somatic symptoms from domain- and symptom-level perspectives, with a non-victimized comparison group. This three-wave longitudinal study included 1,108 adolescents who completed annual assessments, including 549 bullying-victimized and 559 non-victimized adolescents. Cross-lagged panel models examined domain-level associations, and cross-lagged panel network analyses identified symptom-level pathways and central symptoms. At the domain level, bullying-victimized adolescents showed an early depression-related pathway: from T1 to T2, depressive symptoms predicted later anxiety and somatic symptoms. From T2 to T3, anxiety symptoms became more prominent predictors of later depressive and somatic symptoms, and somatic symptoms also predicted later depressive symptoms. In contrast, the non-victimized group showed a different pattern, with early somatic symptoms predicting later emotional symptoms and later anxiety symptoms predicting subsequent depressive and somatic symptoms. At the symptom level, bullying-victimized adolescents initially showed motivational deficits, loneliness, and reduced self-confidence as key driving symptoms, whereas confusion, unhappiness, and reduced self-confidence became more prominent drivers later. Bullying-victimized adolescents showed a distinct temporal organization of depressive, anxiety, and somatic symptoms, shifting from an early depression-related pattern to later anxiety-related dysregulation with emerging somatic involvement.

This study examined whether intelligence is associated with the link between sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) and depressive symptoms, and whether emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) help explain this association. Using cross-sectional survey data from 3453 students (ages 10-15) in an academically oriented public school in Beijing, China, we used the second type of mediated moderation to examine the total and indirect moderating associations of intelligence with the SPS-depressive symptoms link via emotion regulation strategy use. Results showed that SPS was significantly and positively associated with depressive symptoms (r = 0.344, p < .001). Intelligence was indirectly associated with the strength of the SPS-depressive symptoms link via two emotion regulation strategies. Intelligence was positively associated with cognitive reappraisal (beta = 0.103, p < .001), and this pathway was linked to a weaker SPS-depressive symptoms association (indirect effect = -0.009, 95% CI [-0.014, -0.004]). Intelligence was also negatively associated with expressive suppression (beta = -0.050, p = .011), and lower expressive suppression was in turn associated with a weaker SPS-depressive symptoms association (indirect effect = -0.002, 95% CI [-0.005, -0.001]). Effect sizes were small, and findings should be interpreted as preliminary associations pending replication. The findings suggest that individual differences in intelligence may be linked to depressive symptoms partly through differences in emotion regulation strategy use, while SPS remains positively associated with depressive symptoms. Given the cross-sectional design, conclusions are limited to associations. These findings may inform future longitudinal research and school-based support for students with high SPS.

Trauma is a ubiquitous aspect of human life that can challenge psychological health but also trigger adaptive changes. Tension theory suggests that exposure to stress events may stimulate novel and flexible thinking. Historical evidence indicates that many eminent creators experienced significant childhood trauma, implying that creativity can emerge as an adaptive response. Building on this framework, we examined how cumulative trauma exposure relates to creativity and whether complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) symptoms moderate this relationship. Data were collected from 1,215 university students, including cumulative trauma exposure, CPTSD symptoms, and creativity assessments. Overall, the trauma-creativity relationship followed an inverted U-shaped pattern. Latent profile analysis of CPTSD symptoms revealed four adaptation profiles: disturbances in self-organization group (14.2%), CPTSD group (10.8%), posttraumatic stress disorder group (21.6%), and low-impact group (53.4%). Posttraumatic stress disorder and disturbances in self-organization groups showed the classic inverted U pattern, whereas the CPTSD group showed a positive linear association, particularly for divergent thinking. The low-impact group displayed a logarithmic trend, suggesting a ceiling effect. These findings indicate that the trauma-creativity relationship depends on posttraumatic adaptation profiles and varies across creative domains, providing a framework to reconcile inconsistent findings in creativity research and offering a novel perspective for understanding posttraumatic psychological processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This study assessed posttraumatic stress symptom (PTSS) severity and associated factors among trauma-exposed children and adolescents on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, focusing on prosocial behaviour and resilience and examining the association of prosocial behaviour with PTSS via resilience. A cross-sectional study involved 2,322 trauma-exposed children and adolescents aged 10–19 years, with boys comprising 49.1

Malevolent creativity refers to the generation of novel ideas intended to inflict harm on others. Although prior studies have linked social exclusion to malevolent creativity, little is known about the cognitive and emotional mechanisms underlying this relationship. Guided by the 6P Model of Malevolent Creativity, this study examined whether rumination and forgiveness sequentially mediate the association between social exclusion and malevolent creativity among Chinese vocational college students. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 427 vocational college students in China. Participants completed validated Chinese versions of measures assessing social exclusion, rumination, forgiveness, and malevolent creativity. Correlation analyses and PROCESS Models 4 and 6 (with 5,000 bootstrap resamples) were employed to evaluate direct and indirect pathways while controlling for gender. Social exclusion was positively associated with rumination and malevolent creativity, and negatively associated with forgiveness. Rumination and forgiveness each independently mediated the association between social exclusion and malevolent creativity. Furthermore, a significant sequential chain mediation pathway through rumination and forgiveness was observed. Cognitive and moral-emotional processing mechanisms help clarify how social exclusion relates to malevolent creativity among vocational college students. Interventions aimed at reducing rumination and fostering forgiveness may reduce harmful creative behaviors stemming from social rejection.

Background: Attentional biases are often considered key mechanisms in the onset and maintenance of various emotional disorders. However, existing research has reported inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between attentional bias and posttraumatic stress symptoms.Objective: This study aimed to examine the predictive effects of attentional bias on posttraumatic stress symptoms among bereaved Chinese parents who have lost their only children, using a three-year longitudinal analysis with linear mixed models.Method: Attentional bias and posttraumatic stress symptoms of bereaved parents (N = 47, aged 52-72 years) were assessed annually over three consecutive years using a dot-probe task and the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5).Results: We found that vigilance toward positive stimuli was a negative predictor of posttraumatic stress symptoms, whereas vigilance toward negative stimuli positively predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms. Additionally, difficulty disengaging from both positive and negative stimuli was positively associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms. These associations were particularly evident regarding intrusions and alterations in arousal and reactivity at specific stimulus presentation durations.Conclusions: These findings strengthen our understanding of the relationship between attentional bias and posttraumatic stress symptoms through a longitudinal study design and analytic approach that accounts for random individual and time-related effects. Specific attentional bias components at particular stimulus presentation durations predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms, especially intrusions and alterations in arousal and reactivity.

OBJECTIVES:This study aimed to investigate the symptomatic evolution of long COVID and to identify factors influencing its progression in a predominantly older population. DESIGN:This was a prospective cohort study with long-term follow-up, conducting 3 assessment waves between January 8, 2023, and August 15, 2024. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS:The study included 228 of an initial cluster sample of 266 residents from 5 long-term care facilities in Hefei, China, all with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, who completed all follow-ups. METHODS:Data were collected via study-specific demographic questionnaires and a long COVID symptom scale. Descriptive statistics, Cochran's Q tests, t tests, partial correlations controlling for age, and generalized estimating equations were used to analyze symptom distribution, comparisons, longitudinal relationships, and influencing factors. RESULTS:At T1, low mood (81.1%) and sleep disturbances (81.1%) were the most common symptoms. At T2, fatigue (54.8%) and pain in other body parts (59.2%) became the main symptoms. Dizziness (44.7%) was the most frequent symptom at T3. Independent samples t tests revealed that women had consistently higher total symptom scores than men (P < .05). Compared with the younger group (<76 years), the older group (≥76 years) had higher scores at T2 across multiple symptoms and in the overall score. Partial correlation analysis showed the correlation was strongest between T1 and T2 (r = 0.224, P = .001). The generalized estimating equations model indicated that men had a lower risk of symptoms in most organ systems (OR = 0.257-0.912). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS:Long COVID symptoms in predominantly older individuals showed progressive improvement. Women had more severe symptoms and advanced age slowed the recovery process. However, long-term recovery depended on the individual. This study advocates for implementing personalized, stage-specific care models over standardized protocols in residential care facilities, emphasizing the need for targeted monitoring of high-risk subgroups such as women and older residents.

Emotional contagion is an important aspect of social interaction. Traditional theories suggest that it relies on mimicry of facial or emotional movements. To address the question of whether there is a distinction between emotional contagion and emotional mimicry, we conducted a meta-analysis using the Activation Likelihood Estimation algorithm to identify brain regions activated by the two tasks. We then evaluated the co-activation patterns of these common regions using meta-analytic connectivity modelling (MACM). The results show partial overlap in brain regions, such as the cingulate gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and inferior parietal lobule, between emotional contagion and emotional mimicry. Contrast analyses further identified distinct brain regions activated by each task. MACM analysis indicated that regions including the thalamus, putamen, precentral gyrus, and insula play critical roles in the co-activation network.

Nomophobia refers to the anxiety individuals experience when unable to effectively connect to the internet. Traditional explanatory frameworks often interpret this phenomenon as withdrawal symptoms, leading to an over-pathologization of daily behaviors. Theories from neutral perspective on the other hand, view nomophobia as a psychological manifestation of unmet connectivity needs but often fail to acknowledge the psychological benefits of digital technology. The attachment theory interprets nomophobia as separation anxiety, yet logical inconsistencies remain. Self-extension theories consider digital networks as part of the individual self but insufficiently explore the systemic and unique characteristics of the internet. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify key concepts following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, involving structured search queries, screening, eligibility assessment, and data extraction. Via evaluating and comparing these perspectives, this study introduces the concept of "Internet extension of virtual capacity" as a complementary enhancement to existing theories. Overall, the conceptual landscape surrounding this topic is characterized by significant overlap and ambiguity. Future research should aim to delineate the boundaries and applicability of these concepts to better understand the ambivalent "love-hate" relationship between human and Internet.

The death of a child is a highly traumatic event for parents and often leads to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. PTSD and depression are frequently comorbid. However, the patterns of comorbidity at the symptom level among bereaved parents remain unclear. This study aims to identify the symptom network connectivity of PTSD comorbid with depression in bereaved Chinese parents who have lost their only child, known as Shidu parents in Chinese society. Data were obtained from 477 bereaved individuals who had lost an only child. A regularized partial correlation network was used to construct comorbidity networks of PTSD and depression symptoms. A relative importance network was computed to determine directionality among symptoms in the network. PTSD symptoms of diminished interest, irritability/anger, reckless/self-destructive behavior, a negative emotional state, the avoidance of reminders, and flashbacks acted as important bridging nodes. The relative importance network analysis show two bidirectional pathways (hypervigilance ⇆ exaggerated startle response ⇆ difficulty concentrating ⇆ sleeping difficulties ⇆ poor sleep ; irritability/anger ⇆ reckless/self-destructive behavior ⇆ could not get going ⇆ bothered by things), and exaggerated startle response, difficulty keeping mind, hypervigilance, and diminished interest have higher outstrength values with greater influence on a multitude of other symptoms within the comorbidity network. The findings highlight the important role of specific symptoms and identified bidirectional pathways underscore the interconnected nature of PTSD and depression symptoms, suggesting that targeting these core or highly influential symptoms may disrupt the broader network and improve therapeutic outcomes.

Introduction:The lower levels of dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) in the striatum and the heightened levels of dopamine D2 receptor (D3R) in the midbrain have been linked to impulsive behavior and risky decision-making associated with drug dependence. While D3R has been considered a potential target for treating drug dependence, the connection between D3R in the prefrontal-striatal regions and maladaptive drug-related behaviors remains poorly understood. Methods:This study utilized two high-cost tasks to investigate perseverative reward seeking, specifically conflict-based approaching behavior and persistent responding behavior under a progesterone receptor (PR) procedure. Additionally, D2R and D3R levels in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and striatum were examined through Western blotting. Results:After each task, male rats were divided into two subpopulations: high-approaching vs. low-approaching and high-responding vs. low-responding. Rats treated with morphine (MOR) exhibited a 3 fold increase in the likelihood of developing high-approaching or high-responding behaviors compared to drug-naïve rats. D2R expression was higher in the ventral striatum of morphine-treated, low-approaching rats than high-approaching rats, negatively correlating with approaching behaviors within the morphine-exposed group. After six consecutive PR sessions, D3R levels in the dorsal striatum differed significantly between morphine-treated, low-responding rats and morphine-treated, high-responding rats, negatively correlating with responding behaviors within the morphine-exposed group. An intriguing finding was the non-linear relationships, resembling an inverted U shape, observed between the level of D3R in the mPFC and reward-seeking behaviors, as revealed by both tasks. Discussion:The elevated or relatively higher levels of D2R and D3R in the frontal-striatal regions may serve as protective factors for individuals abstaining from opioids, enabling them to control their reward-seeking behavior better.

Problematic smartphone use refers to behaviors that damage users’ physical and mental health due to improper use, which is prevalent among college students. Based on the Compensatory Internet Use Theory, this research proposes a moderated mediation model to explore how public safety sense affects problematic smartphone use and examine anxiety’s role as a mediator and resilience as a moderator. 86,026 Chinese college students (mean age = 20.11 years,41.2

This study focuses on China's young outstanding innovative talents—an elite group with exceptional potential for invention. The number of these talents in China is extremely small, making them unique and valuable. Using artificial intelligence algorithms, we found that the depression detection rate and anxiety detection rate were as high as 24.5% and 22.4% and that work stressors (challenge stressors and hindrance stressors), negative perception of creativity (fixed mindset), and the innovative environment of the society were very important factors affecting their mental health level. The findings offer significant insights into cultivating innovative talent and fostering organizational innovation.

Left-behind children, who are usually raised by non-parent caregivers, are often regarded as problem children in China. However, the association between left-behind status (i.e., whether children are left behind) and problem behaviors remains controversial due to the confounding effects of other demographic characteristics, such as sex, age, parents’ educational attainment and family income. Our study utilized a large national survey to investigate which demographic characteristics, particularly left-behind status, are associated with the highest risk of emotional and behavioral problems in children. A total of 10,124 children (aged 3–8 years) and their primary caregivers from 27 counties in 12 provinces of China were included in this study. The participants completed a demographic information questionnaire (e.g., left-behind status, sex, age, education levels of parents and primary caregivers, and family income) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Latent class analysis was used to identify subgroups of children with similar demographic information, and the emotional behavioral problems of these subgroups were subsequently compared. Rural children were divided into four significantly different subgroups based on demographic characteristics. A comparison of the differences in emotional and behavioral problems among the four subgroups showed that a child’s level of emotional and behavioral problems was associated with family income but not left-behind status. Our results indicate that being left behind might not be the determinant of rural children’s emotional and behavioral problems. Instead, the family income may play a crucial role.

Although evidence from previous studies suggests that adolescents with negative coping styles who experienced victimization are more likely to exhibit depressive symptoms, these associations have not yet been disentangled to separate between-person differences from within-person effects. To investigate the within-person bidirectional relationships among relational victimization, coping styles and depressive symptoms, this study conducted a four-wave random intercept cross-lagged panel model analysis. The final sample consisted of 1506 adolescents, 72.6

We introduce a novel multimodal emotion recognition dataset designed to enhance the precision of valence-arousal modeling while incorporating individual differences. This dataset includes electroencephalogram (EEG), electrocardiogram (ECG), and pulse interval (PI) data from 64 participants. Data collection employed two emotion induction paradigms: video stimuli targeting different valence levels (positive, neutral, and negative) and the Mannheim Multicomponent Stress Test (MMST) inducing high arousal through cognitive, emotional, and social stressors. To enrich the dataset, participants’ personality traits, anxiety, depression, and emotional states were assessed using validated questionnaires. By capturing a broad spectrum of affective responses and systematically accounting for individual differences, this dataset provides a robust resource for precise emotion modeling. The integration of multimodal physiological data with psychological assessments lays a strong foundation for personalized emotion recognition. We anticipate this resource will support the development of more accurate, adaptive, and individualized emotion recognition systems across diverse applications.

BACKGROUND:Young adults face emotional problems in their daily lives. Considering that youth are prevalent among mobile internet users, it would be helpful if functions that can intervene in young people's depression and anxiety can be designed based on short video apps. Large language model (LLM)-based AI conversational agents based on short video apps may play an important role in intervening in young adults' negative emotions. METHODS:This study is a 28-day randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which 865 participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group or a waiting group, and each user was asked to engage in a total of 28 days of dialog intervention with the AI agent and complete three psychological questionnaires. RESULTS:The dialog intervention significantly reduced depression in the intervention group at two weeks and significantly reduced both depression and anxiety in the intervention group at four weeks. CONCLUSIONS:This study found evidence that the LLM-based conversational agent could effectively alleviate the mild anxiety and depressive symptoms of young adults with negative emotions through dialog interventions when the AI companion bot is used sufficiently enough. REGISTRATION:Clinicaltrials.gov NCT06346496, https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06346496.

Background:: Attentional bias towards threat is a core mechanism underlying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although attention bias modification (ABM) and attention control training (ACT) have been studied for PTSD, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have reported inconsistent outcomes. Additionally, the nonemotional conditioning effect of ACT remains unvalidated. Shidu parents in China, a uniquely vulnerable group who have lost their only child, often suffer from severe and persistent PTSD, however, no RCT has yet investigated attention-based interventions among them. Thus, this RCT compared the efficacy of ABM, ACT, and attention control geometric training (ACG), which adapts ACT in a nonemotional context, on PTSD symptoms and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activity among Shidu parents. Methods:: Participants were randomly assigned to the ABM (n = 21), ACT (n = 20), and ACG (n = 21) groups and completed eight biweekly sessions of ABM, ACT, and ACG, respectively. Symptoms, including PTSD clusters and anxiety as primary outcomes and PTSD total and depression as secondary outcomes, along with attentional bias were assessed at pre-treatment, mid-treatment, post-treatment, and a four-month follow-up. DLPFC activity was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) at pre-treatment, mid-treatment and post-treatment. Results:: ACT demonstrated significant improvement in intrusion symptoms, with treatment effects sustained at the four-month follow-up. However, other PTSD symptom clusters, as well as anxiety and depression, did not show significant improvement across any of the groups. At the neurocognitive level, ACT showed reduced vigilance toward threat and decrease in bilateral DLPFC activation under the vigilance condition. In contrast, ACG exhibited only a nonsignificant trend toward reduced vigilance to threat, along with reduction in left DLPFC activity under the same condition. ABM showed no significant improvements in either behavioral or neural measures. Conclusions:: This study provides preliminary evidence that ACT may be a promising intervention for reducing intrusion symptoms and threat vigilance in Shidu parents, potentially through modulating DLPFC activation. These findings highlight the importance of targeting specific PTSD symptom clusters and corresponding neural pathways in future trauma interventions.

ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the prevalence of depression, anxiety and insomnia in pregnant Chinese women, and to explore the related risk factors across multiple fields.MethodThe participants were 2120 women (Mage = 30.24 years, range = 19-47) from 12 provinces in China. Bivariate correlation and logistic regression analyses were used to explore the risk factors. Chi-square tests and t tests were used to examine whether there were significant differences in mental health status between pregnant women in different periods of gestation.ResultsThe overall prevalence rates of depression, anxiety and insomnia among pregnant Chinese women were 10.0%, 3.8% and 3.3%, respectively. Risk factors for the mental health of pregnant women were identified across demographic, maternal, physiological, and psychological domains. Among these, severe mobility restrictions and fear of childbirth were found to be the strongest predictors.ConclusionsThe prevalence of depression, anxiety and insomnia among pregnant women is low. Pregnant women with a seriously impaired ability to move and fear of childbirth are more likely to experience mental health problems. What is already known about this topic:Depression, anxiety, and insomnia are common mental health problems among pregnant women.Prevalence rates vary significantly across different countries and regions. Particularly in a large country like China, prevalence rates differ substantially among different regions.While risk factors for mental health of pregnant women span multiple domains, such as physiological and demographic domains, the most influential factors remain unclear.What this topic adds:A large-scale study from 12 provinces in China showed relatively low prevalence rates of depression, anxiety, and insomnia among pregnant women.Among the numerous factors influencing mental health, severe mobility restrictions and fear of childbirth emerged as the most robust predictors.